Verizon slashes calling prices, ups texting fees

Erica, 9th December 2010

It looks as though Verizon is changing its business model to accommodate the new, modern mobile phone user. That is, someone who hardly ever talks on the phone and prefers to communicate via text messages.

Verizon has just slashed its "prepaid" calling plan from a previous fee of $3.99 per day to just $1.99 per day. So if you want to have a mobile but don't want a monthly service contract, you can just pop in and out on a daily basis for cheaper than ever.

What could the main reason be? Maybe that no one actually talks on their cell phones anymore. That is so early 2000s. These days, all the kids are just texting each other back and forth like there's no tomorrow.

So guess what? There's always a catch, right? Prepaid phones on Verizon's network now has to pay two cents per text message. That charge used to be a penny.

Verizon doesn't have a very strong grasp in the prepaid service market. That's a field dominated by Sprint's Virgin Wireless unit as well as AT&T and other third-party carriers. This recent plan shake-up is a call to action, though.

"Overall, I think the move is positive because the carrier wants to be competitive in the prepaid arena, but it does not seem that its ready to compete in terms of pricing, at least not yet," said Current Analysis analyst Maidy Whitesell, as report by FierceWireless.com.

Verizon's prepaid plans continue to be available only to "feature phones," which is the industry term for a current mobile phone that isn't quite a smartphone. In other words, it's not possible to get a Droid on a prepaid service plan.